ProLiteracy
$10,000 unrestricted
About: ProLiteracy, the largest adult literacy and basic education membership organization in the nation, believes that a safer, stronger, and more sustainable society starts with an educated adult population. For more than 60 years, ProLiteracy has been working across the globe to change lives and communities through the power of literacy.
Request: Funds will be used to support ProLiteracy’s international projects, expanding access to literacy and learning opportunities for adults around the world. This support will allow ProLiteracy to continue to build the capacity of local organizations, provide essential funding and education resources, and implement innovative programs that empower individuals and strengthen communities. In 2025-26, ProLiteracy will especially focus efforts on supporting programs that reach indigenous and rural women and combine literacy skills with economic development opportunities.
Strategies for International Development
$10,000 unrestricted
About: Strategies for International Development (SID) partners with poor farmers working to graduate from poverty by helping them build successful farm businesses that increase their income. This includes conserving the natural resources upon which their agro-businesses depend and helping women play an equal role in building these businesses.
Request: During the next 12 months, SID will continue to work with the producers’ association in Guatemala to implement the Starbucks Coffee and Farmer Equity (C.A.F.E.) Practices, ensuring they maintain the quality of their coffee despite any weather changes, and connecting to markets. In Uganda, SID will continue to provide technical assistance to 1,861 Robusta coffee-producing families in 106 villages to increase productivity, value-added processing, and income while promoting personal and business growth for women. Additionally, SID will collaborate with the Ugandan Ministry of Education on lessons for secondary school students. There will also be work on a dairy project in Malawi and a new coffee project in Tanzania.
Trickle Up
$15,000 unrestricted
About: Trickle Up partners with people in extreme poverty to build economic opportunity and drive inclusion in their societies. Local communities assist in this process by choosing participants most in need. The community-based partners understand the local markets and help women find ways to start profitable businesses. Before participants enter the program, each receives a grant to help them meet their basic needs, enabling them to focus on the future. Trickle Up helps these beneficiaries start sustainable businesses, save earnings and support one another in these activities. This leads to graduation from ultrapoverty within approximately 18 months.
Request: With this support, Trickle Up will continue leading the industry in next-generation graduation approaches. Digital Graduation criteria focus on integrating digital technologies into both the delivery of graduation programs and participants’ livelihoods, enabling greater efficiency, accessibility, and sustainability. Climate-adapted graduation approaches integrate resilience-building strategies into traditional graduation models, equipping participants to adapt to the increasing challenges posed by climate change. Gender-transformative graduation approaches go beyond addressing the symptoms of gender inequality by actively challenging and shifting the societal norms, behaviors, and power dynamics that perpetuate it.
VisionSpring
$10,000 unrestricted
About: VisionSpring’s mission is to increase lifelong earning, learning, safety, and well-being through eyeglasses for people vulnerable to poverty; their “big goal” is that “Everyone who needs eyeglasses will have them by 2050.” VisionSpring works towards this goal as a social enterprise by providing affordable eyeglasses, vision screening and training so that non-profits, social entrepreneurs, government agencies, and corporate clients can bring the wonder of clear vision to their communities.
Request: In 2025, VisionSpring’s goal is to deliver 2.2 million pairs of eyeglasses, lifting the cumulative number of people with corrective vision above 16.3 million. Within that topline, VisionSpring will screen 2.5 million people through Vision Access Programs, directly targeting earners, learners, and drivers vulnerable to poverty in alignment with the UN Sustainable Development Goals. This leverages the new capacity VisionSpring has built over the past 18 months, including an expanded team of 150+ new staff and enhanced digital systems like DigitEYES, rolling out across Kenya, Uganda, and Zambia.